First Thursday's Just For Fun: Firefly & Serenity

I've been spending time, recently, introducing someone to Firefly. I've been obsessed with this show for such a long time that watching it through his eyes - seeing him encounter all the wonders of that "crap hill 'verse" for the first time - has reminded me of why I fell for this show in the first place. I suggest IMDB for details about the series, since I'd rather spend my time writing about the top 5 reasons why I love Firefly (and the subsequent movie, Serenity):

• Firefly is eminently quotable. From "we are just too pretty for God to let us die," spoken by Mal in the first minutes of the first episode, to the captain's final exchange with River Tam in the last minutes of the movie - River: "Storm's getting worse." Mal: "We'll pass through it soon enough." - there are so many quotable moments that it's hard to keep track.

Picture Source

• Joss Whedon's storytelling reaches a new high. I've adored Joss Whedon for a while. I've watched every episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and of Angel multiple times. Which series did I buy, though? Only Firefly.
• It's a story about a group, not about the individuals in the group. Sure, Malcolm Reynolds is the glue that holds the rest of the group together, but the story itself is no more about Mal than it is about Zoe or River. When my Firefly neophyte asked me, in response to me laughing long and hard over something that Wash says, if Wash is my favorite character, I had to think about it. For sure, I identify most closely with Wash, but I couldn't really pick a favorite. I love Kaylee's eternal optimism; Mal's pragmatism; Jayne's self-assurance; etc. But I can't imagine the series without every single character, since they're each crucial to the whole.
• The cast was amazing. I had seen most of the cast in other roles before I found Firefly, but it took me a long while to realize it with most of them. In fact, it wasn't until I watched Death at a Funeral shortly after one of my periodic rewatchings of Firefly that I realized I'd been loving Alan Tudyk in both without making the connection that it was the same actor.
• Despite everything else that happens in the post-war, post-post-apocalyptic 'verse, the crew of the Serenity never gives up. That's what I want from dystopian literature/movies/television series: a sense of hope. Even in the midst of the worst moments, they keep on keeping on. Actually, I suspect it's that underlying optimism that has made such rabid followers of all of us Browncoats. In the words of the theme song, "you can't take the sky from me."

How about you? I'm assuming you're a fellow Browncoat if you read this far, so tell me why you love Firefly  and Serenity so much.

And let me leave you with this video of some of the best quotes: